We are an early stage venture fund based in Silicon Valley. We invest in white spaces companies, with no identifiable competitors, where we seek to create or disrupt multi-billion markets. We are sector agnostic and trans-disciplinary by design. Artiman is typically the first institutional capital, often at the concept phase. We work as active partners with our entrepreneurs, helping drive strategy, market definition and execution.

How You Get That Second Meeting

Let’s go deeper into the Scarcity Rule and its corresponding ratio 100:10:1.5.

For every 100 deals we are introduced to, we work on 10 and invest in 1.5. We are looking for disruptive ideas, and disruption rarely comes from a run play up the middle into the teeth of the defense. So, let’s flip this around. How do you improve your odds of getting a second meeting with investors?

Get ready to pitch

Disruptive ideas can be described simply and quickly—think 10-15 slides. You need to answer four questions:

Is there a big market we can create or disrupt and why?

Why does your team have an “unfair” advantage to pull this disruption off and keep others from copying you?

What is your possible business model(s), key risks and the capital you need to raise for this type of company?

How much of that capital do you need to raise now and what key risks can be reduced or eliminated with that investment?

Pick your target funds and partner

Venture investors will do their due diligence, I am amazed how many founders don’t. Between a website, LinkedInLinkedIn and CrunchBase you should build a profile of the fund you are looking at, depicting what sectors, stage, geography and bite-size that fund likes to do. Check when they last received funding and if they have any money left—usually by the fourth year funds will stop investing in new deals. Make sure they have not made investments in companies that may be too similar to your company. Pick your partner, and pick them wisely—partners who are already stacked with more than seven board memberships are going to be less responsive. And always make sure to complete reference checks with the CEOs partners have backed—you can’t get rid of an investor once you take their money.

Get an introduction

The odds move heavily against you if you are not “introduced” to the firm. Why? To start a company you have to be missing a brain cell or two – you need to motivate yourself and your team to give the job 110% for less money, over many years, and often working in cramped conditions. You will need to motivate unlikely customers to become your most dedicated advocates. So find someone in your network and convince them to introduce you to us. Lawyers or IP firms, angel investors, industry executives and other entrepreneurs all work well. For early stage investing, bankers don’t. Most of them cold call VCs. I would rather you cold call me and save 6% of (y)our cash.

Make your pitch and go for the close

After the pitch, ask for feedback and next steps. If they invite you back congrats, you made the sale. If you get a “no,” celebrate. A quick no saves you time. Also ask for frank feedback as to why not. Most times you will get rational explanation. If you get an “irrational” explanation, thank him/her and move on.

What about the “maybe?” This is the tricky bit. You ask for next steps and a checkpoint. If they disappear into the mist, follow up on the checkpoint date. If no response, use the person who introduced you into the firm to ask for feedback. VCs live on deal flow and may respond to the source differently than the entrepreneur. If you don’t hear, assume you got a no and move on. If there is a significant change in the company (new customer, term sheet etc.) it is ok to go back again with a test of interest. If nothing changed, don’t bother, your deal is off their radar and getting stale.

It’s not working.

So you have done your homework, been introduced and have had multiple first meetings but no second dates. Are you targeting the right person or firm? That is easy to fix. If no, then this is where you need to really dig into feedback. Either your idea or delivery is not compelling or there is a flaw that nobody wants to talk about. Step back, adjust and then try the next batch.

Next week we will dig into the Equivalency Rule and talk about business models, key risks and critical assumption testing.

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